Day 9+10+11: On our way to the promiseland - Amsterdam!!

The day after SHM I felt like absolute shit. My crew explored more of London, found Abbey Road and Paul McCartneys house, hit up Oxford Circus and did some serious shopping. London has the greatest clothes and styles I’ve seen in my life.

We took an overnight ferry to Amsterdam, which was probably the best recovery place for us after raging hard in London. As we were driving on the bus, we passed rich green countryside with canals intertwined everywhere! There were beautiful flowers and enormous windmills everywhere! And the amount of bikes this city has is incredible. 

Our tour guide was explaining how Holland has a great economy with zero debt, and is run by politicians with a businness mindset - which explains why marijuana and prostitution are legalized and regulated. A very interesting way of viewing the world!

I really enjoyed touring Anne Frank’s hideaway house. Her diary quotes are so inspirational coming from such a young girl. Then we walked to the center of the city, and once again the buildings and layout of it were absolutely gorgeous. I was so impressed by how laid back all of the locals were, and even in the touristy area. Seeing so many professional people riding their bikes to work and around town makes me wish it was that easy at home. Holland is also the flattest country in Europe, so that’s a factor.

We found a great tiny “coffeeshop” where we smoked our first joints in Amsterdam (2 pre rolled joints for 10 euros). It was freaking AWESOME. The guy literally rolled the joints in 3 seconds. It was so baffling. The 6 of us sat down and passed them both around - and then the adventure began…

We frolicked in the rain trying to find lunch and came across this amazing foccacia sandwich shop with the FLUFFIEST GARLIC AND HERB CIABATTA IVE EVER TASTED!!! Yummmm - lettuce, cucumbers (add to list of new foods I eat), cheese, ham and salami! Heaven in a meal. Then we got .65 cent vanilla ice cream cones from McDonald’s!

As we were trying to find our group meeting spot, we were saying the most ridiculous thoughts. Between Nick battling the two different voices in his head while thinking he’s speaking his thoughts out loud when he really wasn’t, to me being blown away that I couldn’t read a single fucking thing on the Dutch menu, it was a crazy day. Cara then said “its so cool to be foreigners in a foreign country.” I literally felt like SUCH a foreigner and it felt SO awesome!! I loved every second of it. This was the first city where not everything was in English, and the people and customs are completely different from anything in the US.

The fact that my home friends and I were casually walking around Amsterdam in and out of coffeeshops getting the best weed ever, seeing pipes and paraphanalia in window displays for SO cheap, and everyone just being SOOO COOL, chill and laid back was so amazing - I got SUCH great vibes from this city immediately.

I absolutely love being in new cultures and discovering how people live in their own worlds. I truly felt like I was in ANOTHER WORLD today, and not just a high world cause the joints we had were great. But it really dawned on me today that our planet is SUCH a BIG PLACE, with so many different people, customs, styles, and ideas. It is so amazing that the Internet and technology have allowed our individual worlds to become globally connected with billions of humans on Earth.

Day 8- SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA (the next best day ever)

The day has arrived. My dream show is FINALLY here. It doesn’t feel like real life is happening considering I’m in London with 8 of my best friends and other awesome people on our trip AND we are seeing the LAST SHM UK SHOW EVER!!!

SICK.

After panicking over what to wear, I rocked a cut up British flag tshirt, America bandana, shades, jean shorts, sneaks and my adpi fanny pack.

We rolled through with a solid crew of 14, barely making it to the tube and train!! I legit have not sprinted so much and so fast in my entire life!

We got to Milton Keynes and saw that everyone else was in rainboots….why you ask? BECAUSE THE WHOLE VENUE GROUND WAS COVERED IN MUD! EVERY INCH. But it added such a different element to the show that I’ll never find at home. It was hard to jump up and down in the mud without losing my shoes!

The second SHM started playing Greyhound for the 65,000 people at the show, the bass was beating inside of me. I could feel the music moving through and electrifying my entire body. I was screaming my lungs out as Cara and I went on our friends’ shoulders waving our banner like crazy people! I’ve never been so excited for a set. Everyone was so pumped up and loving every single moment.

I was in love with how I was feeling - like nothing in the world could bring me down, and like I didn’t need to be with anyone else except my best friends that I came with. Then all of a sudden, SHM broke out some crazy fucking laser beams and SHIT GOT WEIRD!!

AT LEAST 500 different beams in bright purple, turquoise, yellow, and green were criss-crossing each other all over the place. Then they added fog to make it look like a cloudy sky - it was mesmerizing!! When huge beats dropped, fireworks and smoke shot up everywhere making the crowd go wild. SHM literally put on the best show of my life and I was so devasted when it ended.

Part 3 OF THE BEST DAY EVER (lol)

Now its nighttime. Time to RAGE. The whole day I was saying that I was going to take it easy because of SHM the next day….but that’s the farthest thing from what actually happened.

We got all dressed up for FABRIC - one of the best nightclubs in the world! There were 3 different rooms packed with people and traditional but DIRTY European dance music. Cara and I bought Fusaro drinks all night, (I’m so broke) that’s how amazing it was to have him there. Cara, Nicole, Lex, Fusaro, and I were killing it on the dancefloor, going on stage, and dancing with ourselves in our own little area.

But during all this my feet were KILLING ME from the night before and from the heels I was currently wearing. Matt came with me to coat check so I could swap my heels for the flats I stuffed in my coat. THEN we adventured to the first aid station where I made friends with the British medics who burned me with anti-infection liquid cleaners. But they gave me endless blue bandaids for the cuts on my feet (WOOOO!) AND they answered all of my questions about how their government worked lol.

So by this point, my feet are ready to go but we needed drinks. The bartender convinced me to get double shots of vodka and red bull, so naturally I got one for me and Matt. It’s 2:30 am now, the girls left to go home, and Matt and I were SO fired up we stayed until 4AM!! RAGING WITH OURSELVES lolol it was amazing. We got so close to the DJ on stage and we couldn’t manage to leave! But we got tired and then remembered we still had SHM the next day. So we took (what I later found out was) a random car ride home for 40 pounds. But we were safe, I promise! 5am in bed and only the best was ahead of us.

Cheers to being in London at the best night club in the world with my best friends.

Part 2 of the best day ever!!

So as we were all still SHOCKED that Matt was here and that we weren’t dreaming, we got our act together and headed towards the center of London to get on a big double decker bus tour. This sightseeing took all day, but damn does London have some beautiful architecture and scenery. Big Ben is monstrous and gorgeous, right next to the Houses of Parliament, which is the most magnificent government building I’ve ever seen!! The tower of London bridge was also beautiful with the Olympic Rings hanging on it. Then I found the British Supreme Court building and I was in AWE. I twirled around in front of it and was so in my element that I genuinely realized how great this life is that I have.

The center of London (which is equivalent to Times Square) is amazing too. The architecture is impeccable and the streets are clean, wide, and not overwhelmingly crowded. London has AMAZING shops too, and I just wanted to explore it all. We saw so many great sights and took some awesome Elwood group photos along the way! It was a lovely day spent with my best friends.